Work is to start next month on a multi-million project to replace all street lamps in the Borough with energy-efficient light-emitting diode (LED) street lighting.Street lighting engineers are awaiting their first delivery of 300 new lamps and will start replacing street lights along Eastern Avenue with the new units from mid-November, before moving on to Royal Artillery Way.The installation follows a trial of several different LED street lighting systems in different neighbourhoods across the Borough. Each of these was assessed for their performance and feedback from local residents was considered as part of the selection process.The council intends to replace all 14,000 street lamps in the borough over a five-year period.Councillor Martin Terry, Executive Councillor for Public Protection, Waste & Transport, said: “Investing in these lights really is a no-brainer. We calculate that it will cut 50% off our energy bill for illuminated street furniture over a five-year period, improve the quality of the lighting and substantially reduce our carbon emissions.“What’s more, the feedback we’ve received from the residents of the streets, where our chosen lamp units were trialled, was extremely positive, with residents praising the much cleaner, more targeted light.“Like other authorities across the country, we’re facing some major pressure over reducing our costs. That’s caused some other councils to decide to turn off street lights during certain periods of the night, raising concerns over public safety. We were determined not to go down that route and instead find a solution that serves us well in the long term.“We believe that the project will bring substantial savings in energy and maintenance costs for the Council.”LED lighting facts

LED lamps use around half the energy of traditional street lights, which is good for the environment. The light is whiter and brighter than traditional street lights. This promotes public safety by improving the quality of CCTV camera images, making car registration plates easier to read and colours easier to discern.

The light is more targeted, so that it does not spill into nearby properties to the same extent and reduces light pollution.

The lamps last approximately 20 years on average, whereas traditional lamps last only three, greatly reducing maintenance costs.